


It's the End of the World, We Might as Well Make Out

by frey_ester



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Amputee Rhys, Angst, Blood and Gore, Dumbass Rhys, Gen, Jack is violent like normal, M/M, Mild Language, Rhys and Jack bicker like overgrown children, Smut might be later on???, Violence, Will add additional tags as I go, Zombie Apocalypse alternative universe, advanced Dark age?/before advance technology setting, different setting (more realistic via Earth?), lowkey Rhack shipping, might continue if still interested, slight out of character portrayal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 22:20:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18433265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frey_ester/pseuds/frey_ester
Summary: My entry to a Zombie Apocalypse Boderlands au fic that I decided to perhaps make into a series?An epidemic breaks out in the town of Pandora and the head of the Hyperion district is to blame. Will Jack clear his name? Will Rhys help him? Will they find a cure? Or will everything just go to hell?





	It's the End of the World, We Might as Well Make Out

**Author's Note:**

> I don't usually write fanfic that much and this is my first time I'm sharing it on here. Sorry if the grammar is iffy.

First Letter- Mr. Blake

 

(Text below if image does not load/work)

>   
>  "I do not know how many times I must address the conflict at hand with you. I can no longer hold back your fib and hide the truth of the cause of this epidemic. It is only a matter of time till the town districts discovers the fault of your late wife and daughter's deaths. A rumor has started to spread with your name on it and the head family of the Sanctuary town's district plans on murdering you. If you step out of town you are a dead man, Jack. I advise you to lay low, but knowing your lack of moral standards I cannot perceive you to abide. Many want revenge on the calamity you inflicted onto our municipality, compared to the only few who are looking for the cure. I do not want to be the bearer of bad news, but my beliefs claim there is no remedy for this pandemic. It has turned into an odious sentinel devil. The death casualties are increasing more every day and the boundary walls cannot withhold this disease any longer. I'm writing you this letter to tell you I have lost all hope and resigning from my post. The Hyperion town's district no longer supports you. We are running out of time, Jack.   
> 
> -Jeffery Blake"  

 

 

¤¤¤¤

 

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Handsome Jack continued to bring the razor-edged tip of his dagger down on the face of the decaying monster before him. Snarls and wails of distraught crying filled the air from the living corpse's throat and it slowly became still. Jack removed the dagger with a heaving breath as he laughed amused by his kill.   

"That's right, you piece of shit." Jack upbraided with a small snort while standing up fully now. The middle-age man checked his skin for any flesh wounds. Clean. He scoffed down at the dead corpse when it released its last dying moan and Jack spat at its dumbass face.   

Handsome Jack wiped off the dark defiled blood onto the fabric of his pants. He placed the dagger back into his thigh holster and peering around at his surroundings. His kill was the last zombie in the area; Jack stood there listening to the rustle of leaves in the afternoon breeze. No signs of any of the dead shuffling through the thick grass of the forest. Jack was alone.   

The man started to make his way down the deep slope of the hillside. He balanced his main weight on his right side while using young premature trees for support. He gritted his teeth when he felt his canvas sneakers started to slip from under him due to the greasy mud and grass. Jack's eyes widen as he felt his balance falter, his whole body shifted forward all at once sliding two feet forward while facing the base of the hill.   

Jack quickly reached his arms forward and caught onto two immature trees, bracing himself to a stop. He let out a husky breath from the sudden shock of almost falling. "Jesus," he breathed shaking his head, he tried to steady his stepping down the hill now. Falling down the hill definitely could cause a serious injury, and that was something that Jack didn't need to slow him down. Thinking of the situation he could have been in if he broke a leg with zombies and his former allies trying to kill him. He wouldn't last a day. Thank god for actually being athletic before this shit-show started.   

Jack started to continued down the hill side, but something caught his eye. He paused in front of one of the immature trees seeing a broken branch hanging from its shoot. Something had been through here and it was fresh. Jack gripped on one of the nearby growing trees and crouched down to change his eye view of the woods. Jack quickly recognized the heart shape of cloven hooves belonging to a deer. Food. Nearby food.   

Jack hastily with stealth followed the deer tracks down to the bottom of the hill the terrain becoming flat now. He soundlessly sneaked through the overgrowth of vegetation and paused seeing a clearing before him. He stopped on the borderline of the trees tacitly checking the area to make sure it was clear. Once Jack was sure there was no one in sight he stepped through the tall grass taking slow strides through the tall green blades of the pasture.   

Jack's masked face grew grim from what he stumbled onto. There before him laid the deer, a mature doe, sprawled on her side and bearing a huge gash of a hole in her stomach. Guts and entrails were forcefully ripped and pulled from the doe and left half eaten upon the grass. "Sufferin’ succotash!!!" Jack fumed while kicking the dead animal carcass right in the face. "Bloody. Stupid. Limp. Brain. F'ers." Jack continued to smash the head of the deer in with his foot within his frenzy of wrath.   

After Jack finished his rage hysteria on the poor deer, he took a few steps through the grass not bothering to even wipe the infected blood off from his sneakers. The man decided he was going to find the fucker who ruined his former next meal by shooting it right between the eyes, or maybe stabbing. Which-ever physical labor would make him feel more satiated with the burning resentment he endured inside.   

Jack withdrew his trench knife from his thigh holster moving forward through the grass. It was easy to tell where the numskull zombie went due to the grass being pushed down in a wandering and laggy way. He already planned to shank the dead clod in the face repeatedly till it died. He followed the beat down path of grass through the pasture leading him to the other side of the woods.  

Jack paused in his steps due to something seeming off. There was a funky smell in the air and his nostrils flared from sniffing. Gasoline? He slowly walked a little bit forward. Jack found himself standing in front of a water run off trench and what the gully held made his face translucently pasty white under his mask.   

There was a group of a few, no several, dead beat shufflers piled together in the base of the small ravine. There had to be at least 20 zombies in the bloody hole shuffling around groaning and moaning inhumanely in the hellhole. What the fuck. How??? Jack stood on his high ground watching the decaying bodies turn their attention to the man. They reached out towards him trying to climb up the gorge but couldn't, causing dirt to become loose and tumble down.  "For fuck's sake." Jack fussed pulling out his handgun.   

Unexpectedly, across the crevice of land, a figure bolted through the trees right in Jack's direction. It was a human, a young male appearing in his mid to late 20's. He adorned dark auburn colored hair that was slicked back smoothly with a few loose strands of his bangs over his forehead. His blue and brown miss matched eyes were wide with fear as he ran with his arms- correction -arm flopping vigorously, running like an overgrown boneless child. There behind him was a hoard of zombies. "What the fuck." Jack started flabbergasted at the new spectacle displayed before him.    
   
The young man launched himself over the gap of the gully with his feet landing on the edge of the terrain right in front of Jack. The mysterious man lead the zombies behind him right into the trench below, fumbling down like dead weights into the present herd below. "H-H-Handsome Jack?!!?" the man gawked and then lost his balance. "Gaaaahhh!" he shouted feeling himself fall backwards.  

With quick thinking, Jack grabbed the man's crimson necktie around his throat to prevent him from falling backwards into the zombie pit. The young man dangled there like a meat bag treat as he cried out "Pull me up! Pull me up!" while swinging his arm for balance. Jack huffed at the male pulled him up by grabbing his shoulder with his free hand and heaved the young man onto the ground next to his own feet.  

"Who the hell are you?" Jack inquired immediately pointing his gun at the auburn male's face. "And what the hell do you got going on here?" he snarled with demand while pointing at the zombie hole. "What are you doing with THAT?"  

"Whoa, whoa!! M-My, my name is Rhys! A-and I'm taking care of them!" the man shouted back trembling from the gun pointed at his face. Jack stared down at the male with a 'what the f' expression on his face. The man fumbled his fingers through his pockets and pulled out a handful of miscellaneous lighters. The smell of gasoline Jack noticed from earlier, then it dawned on him the kid filled the bottom of the dried-out gully with gasoline and lead the zombies here to burn them. Jack lowered his gun appearing amused at the young man named Rhys before him.    
   
"Smart, kiddo. But you're going to want to get the hell away from this spot. Fire is going to attract more of these freaks here." Handsome Jack remarked with a small snort as he glanced back down at the pit of zombies. The new group of infected already mingled with the rest in a gnaw biting monsters.    
   
"Hey! I am a fast- hell, I am a GREAT runner. My legs-" Rhys started, but suddenly Jack shifted towards the young man with a sudden swift-kick right into between the eyes of a zombie. "Gah!!!" Rhys screamed like a little girl turning to look at the zombie who managed to climb partial way up the slope.    
   
The cannibal corpse fell back into the gasoline filled hole and Jack immediately grabbed one of the lighters from Rhys. He lit it quickly and popped the thing into the gully; with a loud 'WHOOSH' the mob below burst in flames. "Let's go." Jack indicated grabbing onto Rhys' arm and dragged him behind him in a violent sprint.    
   
An unexpected small noise escaped from Rhys' throat while being dragged by with wrist by Handsome Jack. His miss-matched brown and blue eyes stared in astonishment at the man before him. Honestly confused on what was happening Rhys willingly followed the older man into the flora and away from the moaning, wailing, shrieking and burning swarm of deadbeats.  

  
   
~****~   
   
 

The sun slowly started to set over the horizon of trees, shimmering dying rays of the sunset danced softly across the forest life. Handsome Jack and his new participant set up camp for the night at an edge of a large ravine. Rhys sat with a decent size river behind him and a set up fireplace in front of him, which Jack was starting with two rocks. Jack ignored Rhys every time the younger male suggested on using one of his many lighters, but he kept beating the rocks together.  

Rhys rested his arm across his knees with a small sour face of displeasure as the man pursued on ignoring him. Rhys didn't get it at all. Why did Jack drag him along? He knew of the crimes Handsome Jack was charged with and the death toll he had piling up under his belt. Why didn't he kill him? Wouldn't Jack be better off alone than having some one-armed-amputated-crippled weighing him down? Too afraid to vocal his thoughts Rhys kept to himself.    
   
"Aha! Finally, you stupid bitch!" Jack exclaimed excited when he finally got a small fire started. The flames slowly licked up the dried grass and twigs the two had gathered. The man laughed at his small success and slumped on his side with a toothy grin on his lips. He tucked one hand under the spot where his jawline and ear met, and supported his weight with his elbow. "So, Rhysie, can I call you that? Well, I'm gonna call you that anyways. Ha-ha. You're from the Hyperion town's district? Or well, _were_."    
   
Rhys drew his focus away from the enduring fireside and onto Handsome Jack. "Uh... yeah. I guess. I mean, I was, erm. How can you tell?" he questioned with a sheepish smile and the tilt of his head.    
   
"Your clothes, they're Hyperion issued. I know my brand like the back of my hand." Jack chuckled amused with himself while studying Rhys facial emotions. The younger male turned his head away from Jack not liking the way those half-lidded olive green and sky-blue eyes were watching him. "What were you doing before the world turned into shit? Thou, personally, I think the world was already shit. But, more of a REAL shit show now."   
   
"I was a baker... well, my family ran the bakery anyhow." Rhys told the older man whose eyes lingered on him uncomfortably. Those eyes were nerve wracking and Rhys did not enjoy the way the older man watched him- -like he was studying Rhys' every move. Studying his enemy.    
   
"A baker?" Jack amused with raised brows at the younger auburn brunette male. He tilted his head back with a small laugh. "Can't imagine THAT'S how you lost your twiggy arm." Jack jeered with a snort as he nodded toward Rhys eagerly. "Tell me how you lost it."   
   
Rhys' face grew stiff with his lips in a straight thin line. He was not amused one bit with Jack’s daft attitude. “Lay off, will you? It’s none of your business with what happened to my arm.” the young man retorted at Jack with a grim expression.    

Yikes, Jack really stepped on a poor topic with the younger man. Yet, surprisingly the older man tolerated Rhys’ perturbed vibe. Jack didn’t know why he didn’t just strangle the kid when he first met him. He did know he was fascinated with how the young 27-year-old male had SINGAL handily survived this long. “Whoa, whoa, there pumpkin,” Jack started popping the while speaking. “Cool your sweet little tits.”    
   
Rhys pursed his lips together giving Jack a stern salty look. “My tits are calm.” he carped in a dry tone. The young man scowled a bit, “I’m confused with what you’re doing.”  

“I’m just trying to get to know you, buddy-ole'-pal! I DID save your life earlier. If I wasn’t there earlier when you were doing your little game of tag with the limp-brains, you would have been zombie soufflé- Get it? Soufflé, cause you were a baker.” Jack trilled with an entertained smirked.  

“I get it, just stop. I appreciate you saving me and I guess you want some form of repayment?” Rhys uttered with a tart aspect. Jack’s eyes glinted in approval and delight of Rhys’ words. So that was what he wanted. He wanted to use Rhys in some way.  

“Not really a repayment- to say –more... I need help with a little, tiny, itsy thing. You could say I could use a HAND, heheeh.” Jack taunted with that smirk never leaving his lips. Rhys looked like he wanted to smack the crud out of Jack, but remained composed. “All I’m saying, kiddo, is that I could use your help getting into a place.”    
   
“What place?” Rhys questioned with an unwavering steely gaze at the older man. He wasn’t sure what Jack was itching at, but a feeling in his gut told him it was not good.    
   
“Well, as both former Hyperion patricians I’m sure you know all about me and what happened to Pandora. I don’t care who you blame for the outbreak,” Jack started with a serious tone of business and his face turned portentous. A face stating if Rhys even DARED tried to blame Jack for the outbreak, he would suffocate him on spot. “But I got a guy holding up in the Hyperion district. He’s safe and I need help getting back into the town.”    
   
Rhys nervously swallowed the hard lump in his throat. “Um, so you want ME to help you get back into Pandora? Where everyone is basically the dead walking? Haha,” Rhys laughed sheepishly feeling cold sweat drip down from his temple. “I-I don’t know how to tell you this, but, uh... that’s a suicide mission.”    
   
“Oh, come onnnnnn, Rhysie! It’ll be a piece of cake! Seriously! With me, we’ll get in. Plus, my dude is working on a cure! And if we make a cure- hell! My name will be cleared!” Jack vouched giving the younger man a feathery puppy-dog eyes and a cute little pout. It was offsetting for Rhys. 

“Who is this ‘dude’ of yours?” Rhys inquired staring back down at the fire before his feet. He couldn’t help but frown at Jack’s words. Did the man really think it was possible to get back into the town? Pandora was a lost cause now. There was no way they would last even 10 minutes! Rhys pinched the bridge of his nose. “I- I don’t know about this. It sounds crazy.”  

“Professor Nakayama is my DUDE.” Jack chimed with his grin spreading ear to ear, which just made Rhys stare at the man contemptuously.  

“The botanist?” Rhys questioned with a settle raised brow at Jack. This guy is fucking nuts. Every feeling he was getting in his stomach told Rhys this was wrong. They should be staying the hell away from Pandora! Not going to it!   
   
“Yep. He can help us, I’m sure of it. So, what you say, Rhysie? Not that I’m actually giving you a choice.” Handsome Jack stated sitting up and propping his hands behind him.    
   
“Uh...” Rhys bit his lower lip in irritation. He really couldn’t say no. He knew this. He had to go with whatever insane idea Jack was running with. “Sure, why not?” Rhys answered unwillingly.    
   
“Yes!” Jack exclaimed cheerfully and tilted his chin towards Rhys in a nod. “Don’t let me down, kitten.” he chummed with those ever so smirking lips.  

Rhys could feel the blood draining from his face and the nauseating churn in his stomach. This... this was a horrible situation he got himself in.  

What was he going to do?   
 

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly have no idea where I was going with, like most of my work. I was either going to just make it a short one-shot, but honestly, I have so many ideas for this that could not fit in just one chapter. So, I mighttttttttt continue this since I’m interested in it?
> 
> I’m not quite sure about what the full setting is. Minus Pandora is the main town everyone lived inthat has three town districts: Sanctuary, Hyperion and I have not decided on the last one yet. The time is kind of set in the 19th/early 20th century. Before electronics, but guns and other handheld weapons are a thing. Or I might do a contradiction of time, like traditional mix with modern at the same time. Basically, my own little silly fictional version of things.
> 
> If I continue this, I will most likely jump between characters and sort. I’m not sure yet. I still have a lot of planning, and I never was fully into the whole Zombie apocalypse thing, but I am into apocalypses in general the end of the world ideas.
> 
> ~~
> 
> Background for intro letter: https://depositphotos.com/10401422/stock-photo-old-paper-texture.html


End file.
